1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of residential networks. More specifically, the present invention is related to automated control of residential devices using a residential gateway.
2. Discussion of Relevant Art
Generally, a residential gateway is a device that connects an in-home network (Intranet) to a, typically broadband, Internet connection (e.g., digital subscriber line (DSL), cable, satellite, etc.), which enables data communication among networked devices in the home and across the Internet. Accordingly, residential gateways typically combine the functions of a router and hub to provide for device connectivity and Internet access. Some residential gateways have an integrated broadband modem to connect to the broadband connection, while others rely on external modems. In more advanced residential gateways, the layer 2 switch (hub) even provides bridging across multiple networking technologies, such as Ethernet, Home Phone Line Networking Alliance (HPNA), IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless, Bluetooth wireless, USB point-to-point networking, etc. Thus, a residential gateway allows a number of different devices to be networked together (with advanced models bridging between network technologies) and share access to the Internet across a broadband connection.
U.S. Patent Publication 2001/0034754 describes a customer premises gateway that is connected between the Internet and an in-home network. The in-home network consists of a number of different “smart” devices in the user's home that are coupled to the gateway via different networking technologies. The customer premises gateway also provides a Markup-Language interface, e.g. XML or HTML, that allows the user to remotely provide commands to the devices connected to the in-home network, which, in effect, provides remote control of their behavior. For instance, a user can access the Internet from a location remote to their home, point a Web browser to the customer premises gateway, and send commands to turn their lights on and off, turn a sprinkler system on and off, control their CD player, etc. The customer premises gateway, therefore, provides a passive interface to the in-home network, allowing a user to manually issue commands to the devices on the in-home network from a remote location. The customer premises gateway, however, does not provide automatic control of a discrete device on the in-home network based on relevant data accessed from the Internet.